Ringing in the New Year with the Drive-By Truckers.

I have never, ever liked New Year’s Eve. While those who know me would pass this off to my general anti-establishment modus operandi, admittedly, it has more to do with my just not getting the point. Too much pressure put on one night. Too played out for my tastes. Too much conversation on a night when I’d like to imagine I had some thinkin’ to do.

The best NYE I ever spent was home alone, watching The Virgin Suicides in a silk kimono, nursing a hangover. I wanted every NYE to be just like that (perhaps with the absence of the hangover). That all changed when an ex took me to a 2-night Derek Trucks Band extravaganza in Atlanta one New Year’s, the second night’s show ringing it all in with cheap champagne, hippie chicken dancing, and a special Gregg Allman cameo that had me in tears.

Well, I topped it. I gotta hand it to the Truckers. They are a working band—and on my 5th time seeing them, they killed it. I almost forgot it was New Year’s [hell, I almost forgot I wasn’t in the South] until Patterson started counting down. Pretty perfect.

Going with the Big To-Do theme, they had some insanely amazing performers from the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus—acrobatic girls dangling from ropes, stiltwalkers, sword swallowers, and this gentleman:

I could think of something funny to say about this:

Wondering what’s in that white sack next to Patterson?

Oh, it’s just a lady:

I love DBT fans: rabid. Lining up outside, a guy looked at us and said, on the verge of exploding, “IT’S THE DRIVE BY FREAKING TRUCKERS!” and Rob paused, then clapped him on the back and says, “I know, dude!” Kind of set the tone for the night—goodwill, good people, excitement for things you know you can expect, and all the things you can’t.

Hope y’all had a blast ringing it in, wherever you were.

-Carey

p.s. Check out this amazing version of Bulldozers and Dirt (which we were treated to last night) at a show in their hometown of Athens, GA. I love how they’re passing around a bottle of Jack before they start playing. This is Rob’s favorite DBT song, btw.

and one more chee-eee-eesy cell phone picture of us flannel-ing it up for yers:

you killed it in that outfit! my friend talked me out of wearing sequined shorts on NYE which i should not have let her do. i saw drive by truckers in athens a couple of years ago and it was a blast, so i can only imagine how awesome this concert was! happy new year.

i hate the pressure of nye too–never lives up to the expectations. looks like you had a blast though! i saw dbt in philly last year and they were pretty awesome–it was my first introduction to them. also glad you got your sparkle on! can i get a hell yeah on those pants?! xoxo, laura

Just stumbled upon this blog, and saw you guys were at the NYE show as well. I was one of those rabid people who lined up about 1.5 hrs before doors opened to ensure a front row spot. Glad you guys enjoyed it as well!